Tonight’s Raw was a mixture of deception and a bad version of American Idol. Both Trevor Murdoch and Lilian Gracia tortured our ears with renditions of Kenny Rogers and Aretha Franklin respectively. Luckily both were cut short so we could concentrate on the wrestling. Bad karaoke aside, we also saw some betrayals tonight that were featured in almost every match.
Murdoch and his partner Lance Cade were back in the win column tonight over Cryme Tyme. The Rogers song was part of the post match celebration, but Cade would attack his partner out of nowhere. There has been talks of Cade going on his own and it looks like it is starting. I think Cade will do well as a heel and could find himself as one of the top mid carders on Raw. As far as Murdoch, he may struggle and find himself a regular fixture on Heat, perhaps in many memorable matches against Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Beth Phoenix would also turn on Melina during their tag match against Maria and Mickie James. After costing Beth the title with a boot to the head, Melina would find herself all alone in the ring. This stemmed from Melina running into Beth while she was on the apron. Beth would leave the ring and this lead to a pin by Mickie James. Later in the locker room Beth would attack Melina and threw her into some lockers thus ending their partnership.
HBK tonight ended all the speculation about his knee injury. Jericho was apologizing for not believing him, but HBK came out and told Jericho he was faking. Jericho still was not buying it until he was super kicked in the head. This angle now added a little more heat to their match this Sunday, but it also puts Jericho in a neutral role. Instead of making him the heel by calling HBK a liar, he now saves some face by being tricked into believing in the injury.
Jeff Hardy returned tonight and was apologizing to the fans for his transgressions, but Regal would put a stop to it by sending Umaga into the ring for a match to punish Hardy for his sins. Hardy would walk out with the win and looked good after his lay off. This was a great match and I would like to see them continue this program a bit more, especially to allow Hardy to get back into the groove. It will be very interesting to see if Hardy returns to the status he was at before being suspended. The big question is will the WWE trust him enough to give him a major push again? Or will he be relegate to nothing more than an Intercontinental champ and nothing more.
The final betrayal of tonight was John Cena being lied to in his revenge match against Randy Orton. Regal promised no interference, especially by JBL under risk of suspension. Well JBL did not interfere, but he did make an appearance as a guest referee. This would lead to a 2 on 1 situation until Triple H ran to the ring. Cena and JBL disappeared into the crowd while Orton and Triple H went at it. And then it got lame as they lowered the steel cage on the two men. What a surprise, as it was hanging there all night and had not been used yet. They tried to pull it off on TV like it was a shock, but come on. You don’t take the time to put it together and hang it above the ring for decoration. And really it didn’t add much to the action n the ring so why do it in the first place.
In other action we saw Rhodes and Holly defend the tag belts against Carlito and Marella. Rowdy Roddy Piper was their again and Marella was busy running his mouth at him. This lead to the pin by Rhodes and Marella now threatening to find Piper and take him out. Why must Marella take on wrestlers who are no longer active. He first had his beef with Stone Cold and now Piper. It’s great to see Piper again, but do we really need this angle to bring him back.
And in the match that really meant nothing Kennedy beat Snitsky. It looks like Snitsky is done as he has not been on TV much as of late. It’s great to see all the promos they were running for him really paid off. They never really established anything for him so I’m not sure what the push was for. They should have left him on ECW to develop and do something there, instead he is now lost in the shuffle on Raw.
